Looking for Lessons in Toronto's Air France Crash
It could take months to determine the cause of the crash of an Air France flight in Toronto on Tuesday. Safety experts will also use the crash as a case study in how to rescue passengers from a fiery wreck.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
Investigators have the flight data recorders from the plane that skidded off the runway in Toronto. It could take months to figure out the cause of Tuesday's crash of an Air France flight. Safety experts will be using the crash as a case study in how to rescue passengers from a fiery wreck. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.
LARRY ABRAMSON reporting:
The unlucky passengers of Air France Flight 358 actually had a lot of things going for them as their plane landed in bad weather, slid off the runway and burst into flames. Darryl Jenkins of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University says crashes on landing are more survivable.
Mr. DARRYL JENKINS (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University): If the plane's taking off and has some sort of a catastrophe during its initial climb-out, those types of crashes, very few, if anybody, survives from. But if you're on approach, and you're very close to the ground, those are the types of crashes that you'll most likely see people surviving from.
ABRAMSON: But beyond that, the 309 passengers and crew who walked out of that plane may have benefited from years of research and regulations. John Hickey of the Federal Aviation Administration says his agency has gradually bought survivors more time by requiring the use of more fire-resistant materials.
Mr. JOHN HICKEY (Federal Aviation Administration): Many of the changes we did back in the '80s, including the insulation material and the interior materials in the airplane, are more resistant to catching fire.
ABRAMSON: Hickey was careful to say it's far too early to know exactly which changes may have helped save lives in Toronto, but he's clearly eager to learn which of the improvements he worked on may have helped passengers walk away. It could have been the 1988 rule requiring that airlines upgrade their old seats. Back then, they were only designed to withstand nine G's, nine times normal gravity.
Mr. HICKEY: We then introduced, and most of the airplanes flying today have, what we call 16 G seats.
ABRAMSON: The stronger seats in that relatively new Air France Airbus would have been less likely to collapse on impact, allowing uninjured passengers to get up and escape the fire. The tales of survivors and crew may lead to even more improvements. A fire on an Air Canada flight headed to Toronto in 1983 almost led to catastrophe. The pilot was able to land safely in Cincinnati, but, on landing, the smoke grew even thicker, and 23 people never found the exits. The FAA's David Palmerton says the agency soon mandated better lighting.
Mr. DAVID PALMERTON (Federal Aviation Administration): That was the accident that really led the FAA to mandate 4' track lighting sytems because the passengers said they just couldn't find the exits; the smoke was too dense.
ABRAMSON: And FAA requirements apply to any carrier flying in and out of the US. While technology may have improved, passengers are still dependent on the flight crew to escape. The crew was supposed to be able to evacuate all passengers in 90 seconds, even if half of all exits are blocked. If you find it hard to imagine how that slow deplaning process can be sped up like that, US Airways flight attendant Mike Flores says it can be done.
Mr. MIKE FLORES (Flight Attendant, US Airways): It can only be done with coordinated effort on the part of the crew with clear positive command to make people follow you and do what you want them to do. Obviously, panic is going to happen no matter how you try to control it. And it's the job of the flight crew to rise above that.
ABRAMSON: It's hard for airlines to conduct realistic drills that imitate real life. Any drill is dangerous. During one test in 1991, a woman was paralyzed when she was injured going down an evacuation slide. The ability to evacuate a plane quickly faces a new test early next year. That's when Airbus must prove how quickly it can get 850 people off of its new double-decker super jumbo jet, the A-380.
Larry Abramson, NPR News.
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